Getting Closer!

I saw my Orthodontist this week. She took molds of my teeth and made a small adjustment to my wires. We made an appointment to get surgical hooks on March 3rd. They told me that surgery usually comes 2-3 weeks after this appointment. My orthodontist and surgeon will look at my molds and if he thinks I'm ready then we can move the hook appointment to an earlier date. So, now I'm just waiting. My Orthodontist is Dr. Simon and my Surgeon is Dr. Franco. Dr. Simon gave me my patient photos so I could post them on my blog.

ObamaCare isn't Working Out.

The company I work for offers healthcare to everyone but me. I got the job through a placement agency. I told the agency my salary requirements and asked them to send me on interviews that offered at least that salary. I met the hiring manager and she offered the salary I wanted with benefits. The agency places you in the company and basically you work 90 days at a "discount" which goes to the agency. After 90 days you become a permanent employee. If you have not already guessed what happened, the hiring manager asked for their "best" and she got it...me. She never bothered to ask the owners what the position paid. I worked the 90 days and then spent an additional 30 bartering for my position which I'd already been offered under false circumstances. I was kind of backed in a corner because I'd spent the 90 days working for cheap, so I'd planned on that financially. I could leave and get placed somewhere else (and the same thing could happen again)or I could take a lower salary with benefits or I could take the salary I requested and not get benefits. At the time, we were only a few months away from Obamacare and I assumed that I could get insurance cheaply through that source. By the end of next year, I will marry my boyfriend and I can go on his plan through his company. No problem right? Wrong. October 1st, 2013 I go on the ObamaCare website and try to enter my information and setup my health plan. It took me around 35 days to get everything entered. Once I was able to get everything entered I could see the plans I could chose from. They ranged in price from $130-$400. I chose a Cigna plan that was very expensive but supposedly paid for Orthognathic surgery and hospital bills. I applied and there was no information on how to pay the premium. I called the customer service number and was on hold for 45 minutes. They told me Cigna would send me info in 48 hours on how to pay. They said if Cigna didn't contact me in that time to call them. So 48 hours came and went. A full week passed and I received nothing. I called Cigna and was on hold 1 hour and 34 minutes until someone picked up. I told him I needed my paperwork and needed to make a payment. He asked me what state I was calling from and said he needed to transfer me to that department. He disconnected me. I didn't call back that day. A day or two later I called again. Another hour an a half hold time and my call was taken and I was transferred 6 times! Finally they transferred me out of the company completely and back to Marketplace! Of course they said they had my application and told me to call Cigna. Ha! It was so stupid I couldn't believe how much time I'd wasted. A full month passed where I was trying to pay my premium until finally I just thought well screw it, if it is this hard to pay them I would never be able to get them to pay for anything that I needed. What a waste of money. So I went back on Marketplace and cancelled my Cigna application. The website doesn't let you cancel. It's really stupid because there is a place where you can change or edit your plan and takes you through the whole process, but then when you finish and press enter it has an error message that pops up and tells you you're not supposed to do that. So I'm not sure why they have that on the website if you're not allowed to change. It was another huge waste of time. Anyway, the next day Cigna sent my paperwork. I am not going to give them any money. I'm thinking that it will be easier for me to just pay the entire surgery out of pocket. The payments will be about the same as my insurance premium! It would be like buying a car. I feel like the stress and worry of the surgery itself is enough. There is nothing I can do to make it better, so I should just forget about it. This has all been very annoying but I'm still staying positive.